Welcome
Greetings and a happy fall to all CUT and Syz alums from the Carleton Ultimate Fund (CUF)! Our Carleton student teams are not only back on campus and back in class, but also practicing for the fall season as well as trying out those rookie recruits. With all the team activity underway, CUF wanted to share some recent updates on our ongoing work on behalf of you, for those teams.
Contained within the following newsletter are short updates on our CUF finances, reports directly from the teams, exciting endowment news, and kudos from the recent college season. Carleton Ultimate is a special community and we are proud to share and help the programs succeed alongside you!
2018 Financial Summary
Thank You! Your financial support for the Carleton Ultimate Fund reached an all-time high for the 12-month period ending June 30, 2018. $42,486 was received during our 2018 fiscal year, exceeding 2017’s previous high of $39,690. Our Budget for ’19 is set at $40,000 with 70% going to the teams, 25% to our Endowment and 5% to cover various promotional and service expenses.Thanks again for your generous support of CUT and Syzygy! And of course all donations are greatly appreciated! Please make a donation here, or better yet, set up your monthly subscription gift now.
~Treasurer Chris Borden
Team Reports – How We Use CUF Funding
In 2017-2018, CUF provided $12,500 each to both CUT and Syzygy: an initial $10,000 grant to each team, then an additional $2,500 to help cover unexpected dome time when it continued to snow into April (thanks Minnesota!). We ask that the teams put CUF funding toward priorities such as dome time, coaching, and financial aid. To help get a sense of how these funds are helping, we asked each team to provide a short update on how they were used:
One of the biggest things that the CUF funds allow us to do, in addition to paying for all the normal costs that our club sports money doesn’t cover, is provide financial aid to players. Prior to last year, we generally offered to reimburse up to 50% of players’ flights if they requested aid. Last year, some players needed significantly more, and thanks to [CUF’s] funding efforts we were able to provide everything that players requested, including covering 100% of one player’s flights. We are extremely grateful to have this level of support from our alumni to allow everyone to participate and lessen the financial burden that traveling for tournaments can cause.
Last year was the first year that I was heavily involved in the treasurer role, but to my understanding it was much more difficult to use CUF funds in years past, as we had to request money for each expense. This past year was incredibly easy with the money coming in lump sums; it made our budgeting for the year much more straightforward, so thank you all for making that happen.*
Sylvie Polonsky, Syzygy Treasurer
*Thanks to the amazing support from our alumni each year, CUF is now able to provide up-front grants to the teams rather than making grants on a request-by-request basis based on how much we have in our budget at that time.
The first thing I want to say is thank you for all your support. Without your gifts to CUF and your support at alumni weekend, we could not function. The amount of love and support you put into this team is immeasurable and know that it is so vital!
In 2017-2018, dome time, coaching, and financial aid expenses totaled $14,200 for CUT, so we were able to put all of the money we got from CUF toward those priorities. In the end, players paid $175 in dues–$90 at the beginning of the season and $85 collected at the end of the season.Tim Schoch, CUT Treasurer
Tim went on to explain some of the other expenses that DI Ultimate players face, which both Syzygy and CUT players need to think about as they plan their years:
The other costs that are not accounted for here are the personal costs of playing for CUT that are taken on by the players themselves. These are the costs of plane flights to our three regular season tournaments. While each player buys their tickets individually, so prices vary a little bit, the costs are about $220 for Florida Warm Up, $300 for Stanford Invite, and $350 for Easterns which comes to $870. This is the major extra-team expense. There are also the miscellaneous costs of the season that include but aren’t limited to: cleats, braces and wraps, medical costs to treat injuries, and gym memberships for Winter and Summer break. It’s hard to quantify these since each player’s cost is different.
In 2018-2019, thanks to the generous support from our alumni community, CUF has committed to providing $14,000 up front to both teams. While that amount will go a bit further toward supporting the teams in their efforts to bring home another national championship, it still won’t cover all of their expenses. Last year, CUT and Syzygy’s combined expenses were close to $60,000, and that number does not include flights to tournaments. As you can see, our support is vital!
Kudos
The college series was successful for both teams in all kinds of measures. CUT entered nationals as the top seed and finished tied for 3rd after a difficult semifinal loss. Syzygy entered as the 11 seed and finished tied for 17th, losing one tight game and winning another, while showing flashes of the huge potential their young players will continue to develop. Syzygy also won the Team Spirit Award in Milwaukee, as voted on by their peer teams.
Many individual accolades were also conveyed by both USA Ultimate and Ultiworld. For Syzygy, Isabel Arevalo was awarded 2nd runner up for Rookie of the Year by Ultiworld, while for CUT Dillion Lanier, was named a 1st Team Ultiworld All-American and Henry Fisher and Sol Yanuck were named to the 2nd team. In addition, Ethan Bloodworth was named 1st runner up for Defense Player of the Year by Ultiworld.
Naomi Price-Lazarus and Nariah-Belle Sims were named to the USA Ultimate All-Region 1st Team, while Maya Powell and Madeleine Preiss were named to the 2nd team. First year Syzygy coach, Courtney Kiesow was also named North Central Region Coach of the Year. On the CUT side Henry Fisher, Eric Taylor, Joe White and Sol Yanuck were all 1st Team All-Region, while Alex Olson snagged 2nd team honors.
And if the college series awards were not enough, 15, yes 15, Carleton Ultimate players were invited to participate in the U-24 National Team try-outs – nearly 7.5% of all the invitees. Not much more we can report that y’all don’t already know – that Carleton College (Ultimate) is the best.
Carleton Ultimate Endowment (CUE)
This spring, CUF initiated the Carleton Ultimate Endowment as a long term strategy to sustain funding for the teams in perpetuity. CUF made an initial $25,000 investment into the endowment in June from surplus cash accumulated from prior years giving. The current budget formula directs 25% of the budget to the Endowment Fund, or $10,000 for 2019. Look for a special announcement very soon on an Endowment fund drive with a built in match for those that make a gift. Click on the “Carleton Ultimate Endowment” tab for more info.
Carleton Ultimate Fund 